This invention is concerned with recording and reproduction of audio signals for business and office applications.
It is a common practice in connection with business meetings to assign to one person attending the meeting the responsibility for taking notes of the meeting and distributing the notes to all of the attendees and to other interested persons. The person responsible for preparing the minutes customarily takes handwritten notes during the meeting, has the notes transcribed, and causes the transcribed text of the notes to be distributed to appropriate recipients. Alternatively, the handwritten notes may be distributed without having been transcribed.
According to another known practice, a tape recorder such as a portable cassette recorder may be employed to tape-record the meeting. The tape cassette on which the meeting is recorded is then supplied to a transcriptionist, who transcribes the recorded proceedings. The transcribed text is then distributed.
The foregoing conventional techniques for documenting meetings have a number of disadvantages. Of course there are labor costs involved in the process of transcription. Furthermore, transcription usually entails a delay in making the meeting documentation available, and this delay is usually extended by the time required to deliver the documentation to the recipients. Even the process of distributing copies of handwritten meeting notes entails some delay and inconvenience.
It is an object of the invention to make proceedings of business meetings available for review by meeting participants and other interested persons in a manner that is rapid, convenient and inexpensive.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of making and distributing voice recordings, including the steps of providing a portable digital audio recorder; using the portable digital audio recorder to record words spoken by a plurality of individuals at a meeting location, the spoken words being stored in the portable digital audio recorder in the form of digitized speech signals; and after the recording step, interfacing the portable digital audio recorder to a personal computer; uploading the digitized speech signals from the portable digital audio recorder to the personal computer; using a data communication network to distribute the uploaded digitized speech signals from the personal computer to a plurality of listener locations; and audibly reproducing the distributed digitized speech signals at the listener locations. The uploaded digitized speech signals may be transferred directly from the personal computer to the listener locations, or may be forwarded to a network server, from which the digitized speech signals are electronically distributed to the listener locations. Alternatively, the uploaded digitized speech signals are made available for retrieval via the network from the personal computer or the server.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for making and distributing voice recordings, including a portable digital audio recorder for recording, in the form of digitized speech signals, words spoken by a plurality of individuals at a meeting location, a plurality of personal computers including a first personal computer, an arrangement for interfacing the portable digital audio recorder to the first personal computer, a data communications network which interconnects the plurality of personal computers, first control circuitry programmed to upload the digitized speech signals from the portable digital audio recorder to the first personal computer via the interfacing arrangement, and second control circuitry programmed to receive from ones of the personal computers requests for access to the uploaded digitized speech signals, and to respond to the requests for access by distributing to the ones of the personal computers the uploaded digitized speech signals, with the apparatus further including speakers or other devices associated with the ones of the personal computers for audibly reproducing the distributed digitized speech signals.
The portable recorder may use a removable solid state data memory card as a recording medium. If so, the recording medium may by removed from the recorder and interfaced with the first personal computer for uploading the digitized speech signals to the first personal computer without interfacing the recorder itself to the first personal computer.
The present invention thus calls for distributing the proceedings of business meetings over a computer network and in the form of digitized speech signals. The invention thereby avoids the delays and costs entailed by transcribing meeting notes or recorded proceedings, as well as the inconvenience of distributing the resulting text in hard copy form.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the subsequent more detailed description of preferred embodiments.